Singapore - First Country To Embrace Cryptocurrencies

The Singapore Consensus 2018 has brought in thousands of cryptocurrency enthusiast, crypto visionaries, entrepreneurs, and experts to share experiences and know-how, and create networking opportunities.

This can serve as a melting pot where links can be created to form the foundation of the future of the industry.

Attendees of the said event include the representatives of Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) who delivered a talk with regards to the future of cryptocurrencies in the country and based on what have been said in this talk, Singaporean financial regulators are far ahead than many other developed countries concerning their understanding of the industry and plans for the future.

The Head of FinTech Ecosystem and Infrastructure within MAS, Damien Pang reveals that they are not out to regulate technology itself but its purpose.

In addition to this, Pang also states that they will not impose regulations on all cryptocurrency products.

He said payment tokens and security tokens do require certain attention from a legal point of view but utility tokens does not require much control.

Dubai Launched A Blockchan-Powered Payment System

The Dubai Department of Finance (DoF) together with the Smart Dubai Office (SDO) launched a blockchain-powered payment system.

Dubbed as the Payment Reconciliation and Settlement System, which was launched this September 23, 2018, it is geared towards government entities like the Dubai Police, Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and other government agencies.

The system was designed to provide a more accurate and transparent governance process and will enable real-time payments within and between government structures.

The system has been tested and being used by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KDHA) with over 5 million transactions already have been made.

Swiss Bankers Association Moves To Prevent Exodus of Crypto-Related Firms

The Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) has recently released guidelines for financial institutions who are willing to partner with cryptocurrency and DLT business.

The guidelines were in response to the reluctance of many banks to provide financial services to cryptocurrency companies and may drive an exodus of crypto start-ups from Switzerland.

Reluctance of banks stems from the fact that some ICO issuers did not do AML checks on their contributors, that may lead them to go against anti-money laundering rules.

According to the head of the Crypto Valey Association Oliver Bussman, the guideline was formed to provide more clarity not only to banks, but also to start ups.

Mr. Bussman also added that there are about 530 crypto and DLT companies that have established offices in Zurich and Zug and for the sector to survive they must be accorded with basic financial services.

First Political Crypto Donation in Taiwan

Hsiao Hsin-Chen, a Taipei-based politician has been reported to receive the first ever cryptocurrency donation from an anonymous donor.

This donation made history as Hsiao become the first individual to accept a donation via cryptocurrency while running for a government position in Taiwan.

The politician is running for Taipei City Council and opened up his campaign to donations from anyone and everyone.

The amount of the donation is about 10,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($325 USD) worth of Bitcoin which is said to be the stipulated limit for non-cash donations as imposed by local rules and regulations.

The politician is also known to promote technological innovation in Taipei such as cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies as well as other emerging technologies.

As Taipei embraces cryptocurrencies as a form of donation, the same cannot be said in the United States as some of its territory has banned cryptocurrency as a form of donation, particularly in California where a campaign watchdog organization had voted to ban such donation types.

It seems that Taiwan is an up and coming crypto capital in this emerging industry. In fact one blockchain startup has expressed its plan of launching a Stablecoin based on New Taiwan Dollars.

UNICEF France Now Accepting Crypto

Looking to expand their donors, UNICEF France is reported to have started accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of donation.

There will be 9 cryptocurrencies the organization will accept and these are: Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Stellar, Litecoin, Monero, and Dash.

Donors will be able to make their donations via their website.

Miners will also be able to donate their computing power and direct all mining rewards to the wallet of UNICEF France.

Its decision to allow cryptocurrency donations comes months after the success of a cryptocurrency-related initiative where games where asked to contribute their computing power to mine cryptocurrencies and donate the proceeds to humanitarian cause.

UNICEF Australia also made a similar initiative where people are ask to visit a certain website called HopePage, where visitors will be able to lend some of their computing power to mine crypto while they are on the site.

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